| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. | 1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me. |
| 2Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? | 2Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion. |
| 3“Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? | 3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor? |
| 4For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. | 4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them. |
| 5He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. | 5If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail. |
| 6“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. | 6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit. |
| 7My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. | 7My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow. |
| 8Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. | 8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless. |
| 9Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. | 9Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger. |
| 10“But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. | 10But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. | 11My days have passed; my plans are broken off—even the desires of my heart. |
| 12They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness. | 12They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness. |
| 13If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, | 13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, |
| 14If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ | 14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ |
| 15Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? | 15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? |
| 16Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?” | 16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?” |
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